The 2025 US Open is returning to Oakmont Country Club for the first time in nine years and players are quaking in their boots.
Bryson DeChambeau has already shared US Open fears ahead of the iconic tournament’s return to Plum, Pennsylvania.
Tiger Woods called the course ‘horrible’ on Instagram ahead of this year’s event, after the star finished second on the course in 2007.
Woods is not the only star to express concerns about the course, as several icons have called the course exceptionally tough over the years.
US Open stars hate playing at Oakmont Country Club
The 2025 US Open will be Oakmont’s tenth time hosting the competition, and several stars have spoken out on the course.
The course is notoriously tough, and even winning players tend to have scores in the pluses rather than the minuses.
2007 US Open Champion Angel Cabrera topped the leaderboard after hitting a +5, and only four players (out of 312) have scored under par in the last two tournaments at Oakmont.
Those two were 2016 winner Dustin Johnson and 1994 winner Ernie Els, who shot -4 and -5, respectively.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s frightening,” said former World No. 5 Ian Poulter to Fox Sports. “It is that unbelievably hard. It’s laughable.”
Golf icon Arnold Palmer, who finished third in Oakmont in 1962, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “You can hit 72 greens [in regulation] in the Open at Oakmont and not come close to winning.”
Phil Mickelson, who played the tournament in 2007, declared Oakmont Country Club ‘the hardest golf course we have ever played’.
Several of the biggest stars in the sport will have to be wary for the 2025 edition of the legendary tournament, where the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and DeChambeau are hoping to win big.
Who are the winners of the US Open at Oakmont Country Club?
There have been nine different winners of the US Open at Oakmont Country Club, with some huge names lifting the crown at the tough course.
In 1962, Jack Nicklaus shocked the world at the age of 22, defeating Palmer in a Sunday playoff to announce himself to the world.
| Year | Winner |
| 1927 | Tommy Armour |
| 1935 | Sam Parks Jr. |
| 1953 | Ben Hogan |
| 1962 | Jack Nicklaus |
| 1973 | Johnny Miller |
| 1983 | Larry Nelson |
| 1994 | Ernie Els |
| 2007 | Ángel Cabrera |
| 2016 | Dustin Johnson |
History repeated itself in 1994 as another young hotshot, Ernie Els, won the tournament via playoff to pick up his first major victory in the US.
Dustin Johnson was Oakmont’s last winner, comfortably winning his first major tournament in three years by three strokes.